A Different Kind Of Genius
by Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel
Summary: Jonouchi Katsuya can't do Math, is terrible at Science, and doesn't understand the Shakespeare in English. In fact, Jonouchi is talentless... isn't he? Someone doesn't think so anymore. KaibaxJonouchi
1. Chapter 1

_Note: This is my first attempt at any kind of serious fanfiction, as you may have noticed- the rest are ridiculous, and filled with insanity. But, moving on. I don't own the characters featured in this story. But the idea applied to Jonouchi and the talent of empathy is owned by me. And I wrote the two different descriptions of empathy. Jonouchi's sound kinda weird to me, but hey, I don't understand my mind._

_This idea was drawn from the self-dissection I've been going through the last few weeks._

_And, finally, to the point- no, I haven't forgotten about **Corporate Troubles **or **Don't Touch Me**, thank you. I'm just insanely lazy. Don't like it? Bite me. You don't write them, honeys. I get enough trouble from my psycho fangirls **here**, thanks. But I love you anyway. _

_...Please don't hurt me. :3_

_And I don't own the Twilight Zone. But I wish I did._

_**A Different Kind Of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter One**_

Jonouchi Katsuya slouched in his seat, head rested on one hand, tapping short, bitten fingernails against the re-pulped, graffitied wood of his desk rhythmically. His soft, wide brown eyes appeared closed, but in the true reality, Jonouchi was looking discreetly sideways from under thick brown lashes, watching a frenzied, panicky girl across the room.

She was one of Otogi's cheerleaders, he knew- she was usually primped and manicured to perfection, but today she was flyaway, and despite her almost-convincing expression and only slightly-off makeup job, he could tell she was on the verge of a break-down.

He watched her fidget, chewing her pencil, messing with her long black hair, and keeping her blank expression carefully under check. One hand was crossed over her stomach protectively, but she started violently when the boy behind her tapped her on the shoulder. Her books were closed, which he knew was unusual for her. He'd been watching the people in this class quietly since the beginning of the year.

'_Not another one, Otogi,'_ He thought resignedly. _'That's three in the last two months. And this one was bright, too.'_

He cast his eyes back down again, tracing the all-too-familiar lines of the scrapes and scratches on his desk once more. He knew that none of them knew he paid attention to anything more than a girl's arse. He didn't particularly care, either. _'And not just girls'...'_ He thought discreetly, and forced back a small smile.

"Jonouchi-san!" Taobasa-sensei barked. Jonouchi jumped, eyes flashing up to his teacher's own blue ones with a sharp, glittering ferocity. Catching himself, he blinked sleepily to cover his mishap.

"Nyeh?" He mumbled inarticulately, both hating himself for it and loving the reaction of the people around him. To be clear, Jonouchi loved people. He loved the things they did, loved to know why they did them. They fascinated him.

Taobasa's face suffused with blood, and he bared his teeth in a smile- _'Like a dog,'_ Jonouchi thought in fascination. "Jonouchi-san. Since you seem to be _so _in tune with our current lesson, perhaps you could name for me a non-academic proficiency available in some students?" He sneered. Jonouchi studied him. He was in his older thirties- the blonde knew he picked on his students because he had become emotionally unstable with his own image as the grey grew steadily from his temples. He had watched it happen over the last few years.

Back and over to his right, Jonouchi heard the trademark snap of Kaiba Seto's laptop as he snapped it shut and straightened up to watch the humiliation of his single unconquerable classmate. A wave of belligerence built up in his gut as the image of the smirk he was undoubtably wearing popped into his head. He'd seen that smirk too many times.

"Empathic, sensei," He said clearly as Taobasa began to turn away. The older man froze, and turned back to look incredulously at him.

"You don't even know what that means, gaki," He said, snorting. "You just pulled one from the textbook." He wrinkled his nose unflatteringly, and smirked, showing about an two centimetres of pink gums on the left side, above smoke-yellowed teeth. Jonouchi stirred, and sat up.

"Empathy is the ability to tune in to other people's emotions by a natural introversial curiousity, Taobasa-sensei," He began, painfully aware of the stares of those around him. _'This is ruining my image...' _he thought nervously, but found himself unable to stop. "An empathic person will, more often then not, be subject to less academic prowess than other students, and more likely to have break-downs or mental instability due to the fact that their peers are more likely to pile problems onto them because they always seem to understand," He finished, and then snapped his mouth closed, sinking down in his seat. Taobasa stared at him, gray hair and all. So did the pregnant black-haired cheerleader, temporarily forgetting her own problems. So did the rest of the class.

Taobasa shook himself. "As admirable as it is that you memorized the definition in the textbook," He snapped, "I'm afraid cheeky plagiarism is unwelcome in my classroom, Jonouchi-san. Go wait in the hall, and I'd like you to remain behind for lunch. Class, turn your books to page three-hundred-fifty-four."

Kaiba Seto watched Jonouchi vacate the room with outward passiveness, but immediately looked down and flicked open his book as soon as his passed the doorjamb. _' 'Empathy-' ' _he read silently to himself, _' '-the ability to use creative social curiousity to read the emotions of others using a complex natural instinct for reading faces, gestures, postures, etc. Often associated with natural actors, and considered one of the less common talents. Useful in fields such as psychology, sociology and anthropology. Not often found in more than a small degree.' .' _He sat, momentarily dumb-founded. _'There is no possible, not even a slight _glimmer_ of a chance that the make-inu could've thought of that on his own... it simply isn't... _possible_!' _

It was moments like this that truly startled Kaiba Seto- moments where vocabulary failed him, and science appeared to have temporarily short-circuited in order to make way for something that may as well be out of the Twilight Zone. Jonouchi didn't _do _smart.

Slowly, he drew up and leaned back in his chair, bright blue eyes slightly hazy with deep thought. _'But... '...often associated with natural actors...' ...I wonder.' _He shifted, impatiently, wanting- needing- to be gone, to know. When it came to curiousity, Kaiba Seto was... 'persistant'.

In layman's terms, he was as bloody stubborn as an ox, and twice as pugnacious. Kaiba wanted to know.

Kaiba _would_ know.

- - - - -

Jonouchi sat quietly in his desk in the silent classroom, listening to the harsh crack of a piece of apple tearing under his teeth, and writing repetitively on a sheet of paper, 'I will not plagiarize, I will not pretend to know something I don't.'. His hand scrawled the words listlessly, barely controlled as the blonde retreated into his imagination, silently dreaming about people that didn't exist anywhere but in his head.

He snapped out from the middle of a sharp mental battle of wits between the antagonist- who, suspiciously enough, had began developing brown hair and blue eyes as he was characterized in his mind- and the protagonist, a tall, lean blonde warrior, as the antagonist of his conscious life sat down backwards in the seat in front of him, both legs primly to one side, looking to Jonouchi like nothing less than the Kami's own worst enemy. "Nani?" He asked shortly, blood boiling unhappily as he didn't bother to look up from his work and face him head-on.

The blue-eyed classmate pulled away the lines- _'I will not plagiarize, I will not pretend to know something I don't. I will not plagiarize, I will not pretend to know something I do-'_- and folded long arms over them in grim finality, staring at Jonouchi's still down-turned skull intently. "I have questions," He said bluntly.

The blonde raised his head slowly and met his eye with an unnervingly steady chocolate gaze. When he did open his mouth to respond, Kaiba barely registered the words until a moment later.

"Bite me, bakayarou." With that, he dropped his eyes and looked over sideways at the window broodily. Kaiba resisted the temptation to comply with little ease, furious.

He glared at the boy's blonde, tousled head. "You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?" He jeered, leaning back off the papers and folding his arms. Jonouchi smiled, and flicked his eyes back to the brunette, head still slightly down, and slightly turned.

"I wouldn't, but you would," He quipped softly, and grinned impishly. The brunette blinked, startled at the lack of vehemence and total conviction of the statement.

"And what is _that _supposed to mean?" He yowled, mentally convincing himself hat it wasn't yowling, it was a forceful growl.

Jonouchi's grin grew a little wider, and he snorted without answering. Kaiba glared and leaned forward, nostrils flaring slightly with anger. Finally, incredulous, Jonouchi leaned back in his seat and met his classmate brown-eye to blue. "It means," He said slowly, and clearly, as though he were talking to a child, "that you are entirely too obvious."

For a moment, Kaiba gawked. Then, without thinking for the first time in about eight years, with disastrous effect, he blurted out incredulously, "Am I really?"

Jonouchi began to laugh uncontrollably.

- - - - -


	2. Chapter 2

_Note: Oh... oh wow. I never expected this to get as much feedback as it did, and thank you, everyone who reviewed, and those who read it without reviewing- I know you're out there! This thing has 262 hits, which absolutely boggles my mind. 3 favs, and 5 alerts, too, on the first chap. That's more hits, favs, and alerts than **Don't Touch Me**, which has four chapters. _

_I must say, I'm a little breath-taken- I mean, no one's been reviewing my other ones when I update, so I thought this would be another 2 review flop. Thanks, everybody! And I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, though I'm sure it would be absolutely mad if I did, eh? And because you all make me so happy for being so enthusiastic, I'm updating right away. Oh, and it was my birthday yesterday! Whee! Sweet sixteen._

_Oh, and Jonouchi has both the period before lunch and the period after in the same classroom with the same teacher. It happens- I would know. Kaiba also has both classes... much to Jonouchi's dismay._

_Well, on with the fic, then. And you all get Kawaii-Pockies. :3_

_And 'Yammete!' means 'Stop it!'... I think. Correct me if I'm wrong._

_**A Different Kind Of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter Two**_

Kaiba Seto's cheeks flushed with heat as he glowered at the madly laughing blonde across the desk from him. "Yammete!" He growled, earning an even louder howl of laughter. Jonouchi's face was literally streaming with tears as he fought to control his chuckles, arms crossed over his waist, pressing down against the strain. He rolled forward in his seat, leaning against his desk, shaking uncontrollably. Kaiba growled, deep in his thought. "Yammete, makeinu! This is nothing to laugh about!"

He grabbed Jonouchi by the arm and yanked him out of his seat, rising to his full height in a smooth motion. Jonouchi's laughter subsided to hiccups, and he cast a wary glance up from the floor at the livid millionaire, wiping his tears from his cheeks. "What are you all bent into shape about, Kaiba?" he asked, breaking in mid-sentence with a sharp, bubbly hiccup. "It's no big deal. I don't care. I'm not going to go running around the school screaming 'Kaiba Seto's a pervert!', ne?" With that, he gave a little shrug and began rising to his feet.

Kaiba grabbed him and yanked him up. "Don't call me that," He spat quietly. "And don't talk so loud. I've got a lot more on a line than your idiot friend Honda." He glowered slightly, remembering the other brunette's obtuse flirting tactics, and shuddered. "I am not a 'pervert', simply because I prefer men, dobe."

The blonde rolled large brown eyes. "Ie, I'm not trying to insult you. You're just stupid." He grinned as Kaiba bared his teeth angrily. "And Honda was blatantly obvious- so no one was really surprised. But I've known about you for a while, so why are you suddenly worried I'll tell?"

His classmate stopped, and stared for a moment. "I'm not worrying about you telling," He said defensively. Jonouchi watched as he arched his neck protectively and tensed, hand tightening on the shorter boy's jacket collar. "What would make you think something like that?"

Jonouchi felt his mouth dry. Suddenly, he didn't feel so talkative- the last thing he needed was an even-more hostile Kaiba Seto prancing around him, paranoid, because he could tell what was going on behind the mask. He made a soft noise of dismissal, and tried to jerk his coat free. Kaiba's fist tightened until the knuckles whitened.

"Answer the question, Jonouchi," Kaiba said quietly- Jonouchi's eyes widened. He knew he was deep in the creek now- It was only when the millionaire felt truly threatened that he actually bothered to remind someone that he knew their name. The blonde squirmed, trying to free himself. "Answer the question, Jonouchi!" He snapped, grabbing the boy's wrist and wrenching it away from his arm, where it desperately attempted to assist his jacket's escape. He released the jacket and grabbed the other wrist as well, effectively immobilizing a squirming Jonouchi.

Jonouchi swallowed, trying to bring some moisture to his dry tongue, and stared out the window, fervently avoiding Kaiba's burning, questing glare. _'You will not bend to your greatest enemy,'_ he told himself strictly. _'Not even if he beats the shit out of you.'_

Below window, he could see his apple where it had been knocked off his desk when Kaiba yanked him from his seat. A large chunk was missing from the upturned side, and a fly flitted about on the white flesh. _'Bastard ruined my lunch,'_ he thought vaguely, as Kaiba transferred both wrists into one long, large hand, and grabbed his chin.

Kaiba forced the blonde to face him. "_Answer the question,_ _Jonouchi_," He hissed, blue eyes narrowed. Jonouchi stared blandly back at him, mouth set in a firm line.

"Is that all you can say, _Kaiba?_" He asked coldly, and jerked his chin from the large hand. For a moment, judging by the expression on the other boy's face, he feared Kaiba was going to punch him. He knew he was pushing his luck- Kaiba's left eye twitched slightly, and he was grinding his teeth almost imperceptively, lips pulled back slightly in a silent snarl.

Kaiba's jaw grinding stopped momentarily as he open his mouth to answer. "Only because you seem not hear, _Jonouchi_," He said, spitting out the name like a curse. "I think perhaps you need your hearing checked."

Jonouchi grinned a little, feeling the blood start pounding in his temples, filled with a manic, panicky energy as his instincts screamed at him to get the hell away. "I heard you. I just make it a point not to listen to stupid people asking stupid questions." He turned away slightly, back towards the apple and the fly.

Kaiba grabbed his chin again, and nearly crushed the small bones in his jaw, wrenching it back forward. The blood throbbed in the bruised flesh, and Jonouchi fought against wincing. He was a good judge of situations- it came with his personal empathy. He knew that his luck had just dropped him on his ass.

The school bell was a high, shrill repetitive ring, about two or more decibels too loud for comfort, but Jonouchi had never been so glad to hear it in his life. Kaiba dropped him convulsively, and sent him a glare that sent him a message that he could hear quite clearly in imagination. _"This isn't over... Jonouchi." _He shivered, and scrambled back into his seat, jamming his lunch back into his bag, and tidying the papers on which he was supposed to be writing lines on during lunch, trying ardently not to focus on his newly-made stalker, who had crossed behind him to sit in his seat a few desks away. He was fairly sure he could feel the boy's eyes on the back of his head. _'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' _he chastised himself. _'What were you thinking, revealing that you know? He'll kill you!' _He began to organize his desk distractedly, still shivering from shock and adrenaline.

The teacher, who had entered without him noticing, stopped at his desk and stared down at him disapprovingly. "Never finished those lines, I see?"

He groaned, and dropped his head on his desk.

- - - - -

The strap of Jonouchi's bag was entirely too thin for comfort in carrying such a large load, so it cut into his shoulder uncomfortably as he walked home from school. A small shiver crept across his scalp.

For the rest of the class, he could see Kaiba's reflection in the window- and that reflection was staring directly at him, which meant that Kaiba was staring into the window knowing that _he_ was staring into the window at the brunette, and that idea made him infinitely more nervous. He could feel a shudder go up his side when the boy passed, watching him silently out of the corner of his eye, hostile. He walked more quickly down the sidewalk, feeling internally harassed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed something, and spun. Nothing. He rubbed his arms roughly and shook his head quickly back and forth, trying to clear it. _'He's driving you insane, Katsuya...'_ He told himself, feeling slightly panicked. _'Clear your mind... this is an irrational reaction to the afternoon's shock.' _He hurried along the sidewalk at a slightly faster pace, glad to see that his apartment building was looming over a few shorter buildings, only a few blocks away.

A chill crept slowly up his spine as his strides lengthened and quickened, leaving him feeling as though someone was virtually breathing down his neck, but on the occasions he spun around to check, there was nothing but innocent looking trees and the odd parked car. He rubbed his arms through his sleeves.

As he gratefully unlocked the door to his apartment, feeling soothed after a seemingly endless and harrowing trip, a hand lay quietly on his shoulder. He froze, eyes locking on a small woodchip that had somehow worked its way loose of the wood of the door.

"Katsuya?" A rough voice asked behind him, sounding bewildered. He relaxed instantly, and turned around.

"Hai, Otou-san?" He asked, smiling at the currently sober, stocky little man that was his father. He froze at the sight of who was standing behind Jonouchi Tanaka.

"This young man said he wants to talk to you, Katsuya. Is he a friend of yours?" He asked, looking a trifle bewildered at the loomingly tall boy behind him, and at Jonouchi's now white face.

"No," he said quickly, yanking the door open behind him, grabbing his father and shoving him inside. "He must have the wrong person." He slammed the door shut behind him and pulled all the locks shut, white as a sheet of paper. Jonouchi Tanaka looked at him, wide-eyed.

"Katsuya...?" He asked hesitantly, for once startled out of any kind of violent reaction. Jonouchi grabbed him by the shoulders urgently.

His face was drawn tight against the bones of his skull with anxiety as he looked down on the older man. "Listen, Otou-san. If you see that man, stay away from him! He's..." He searched for words desperately, vocabulary stunted by emotion tension. "...he's stalking me." At Tanaka's wide-eyed expression, he squeezed his shoulders, suddenly realizing how true it was that Kaiba Seto could cause a great deal of trouble, and pose a very real danger to his father, who already had enough trouble getting employed.

Tanaka nodded slowly. "Hai, Katusya..." He said quietly. "What did you do?" The pointed question came as no surprise to Jonouchi, who was well-used to the probing mind of his father.

"I knew something I shouldn't of." He watched Tanaka nod slowly, with his lips pursed tightly.

The shorter man finally responded a few long moments later, reaching up and patting Jonouchi's shoulder. "Watch yourself, Katsuya. And keep the door locked- I have to work tonight. They've changed me to night-shift, but I get a pay-raise. ...And watch who you make as an enemy- you're lucky you didn't get anyone with the resources to ruin you."

"Arigato, Otou-san," He said formally to the older man, but grimacing internally. _'If you only knew...'_

- - - - -


	3. Chapter 3

_Note: Wow, still going pretty strong, aye? My lovely reviewers and readers have popped up the hits count to 551- 162 on the last chap alone, which makes me happy. But please, it would make me a very happy camper if you took a couple seconds to review... please, from your loveable Kawaii-Kitty:3 And about the 'Yammete' in the last chap, apparently the male version is 'Yamero', according to one of my lovely reviewers- but I'm too lazy, so my excuse is that Kaiba is a femme inside. :P Ahehehe. _

_And 'Otou-san' and 'Okaa-sam' are, I am told by a Japanese transfer student, what you refer to your parents with when talking to them- 'Chi-chi' is apparently like 'my father' in conversation- the same goes with 'ha-ha' for mother. So no confusion with Dragon Ball, please._

_I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, chickitas! Or The Hound Of The Baskervilles- I haven't even read it, but I've read some of Sherlock Holmes and I am aware that he and Jonouchi would probably have a bit in common in this. Hehe... poor Jonouchi. Oh, and the whole thing with Kaiba Seto being all freaked out because Jonouchi knows is partially because it could ruin his image totally, and this guy is one of the only people who would dare, and partially because he's a stubborn little bastard and he wants to know what odd talent Jonouchi's hiding from everyone- him, especially. He's just that kinda guy, eh? The kind that doesn't like things out of his hands. _

_And maybe he's using it as an excuse to stalk him, eh? ;3 Sadistic writer's urge... rising..._

_**A Different Kind Of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter Three**_

Jounouchi Katsuya sat curled comfortably on the well broken-in sofa-chair perched in his apartment- it was one of the only things he had from the days when his father and mother were a young and happy couple. Sometimes, even, he thought he could still smell the lingering flowery perfume of his mother's in the well-worn fabric. He tucked the huge woven blanket his mother had brought back from Mexico years before, faded but stillstriped with reds and yellows and greens, around him more tightly, gripping a copy of _The Hound Of The Baskervilles_ tightly in one hand.

Despite the harrowing day, he found his shoulders unknotting, and himself relaxing, as he sipped at a mug of hot cocoa and read, absorbed by the neat observations of the half-mad Holmes- whom he sympathized with greatly.

Such absorption was possibly the reason he didn't he the click of the door unlocking, the tiny creak of hinges, and the soft, almost inaudible footsteps that padded up the hallway. He shivered uncontrollably, and without any real premise, and lifted his head, looking around. _'That was strange...'_ He thought uneasily, and marked his place in the book, throwing off the Mexican blanket. "Hello?" He queried warily, hearing his voice echo slightly in the apartment. "Otou-san, is that you?"

He rose quietly off the chair, feeling as though his skin was thin and papery and cold, palms clammy. "Katsuya, you're being a fool," he told himself strictly, feeling slightly better for it. The door was closed, he could see from where he was standing- the short-sightedness that poverty and vanity refused to correct didn't allow him to see much more.

Jonouchi, in fact, could not see anything clearly beyond about six feet. Shaking himself of the uneasy weight building in his stomach, he wandered into the kitchen with his empty mug, and began to scrub it in the sink, which was still full of luke-warm, dirty water from that afternoon.

An arm snaked around his throat and pulled back his head, causing the mug to drop from his hand into the sink, splashing him up the front with dirty water. He twisted and emmited an odd squeak as his assailant grabbed his right arm and twisted it behind his back. Lashing awkwardly backwards with his foot, he squirmed and fought as best he could against the unseen attacker- but when faced with a surprise attack, effectively immobilized, and with an attacker twice as strong as you, there's only so much you can do.

He did however, recognized the incredibly peeved voice that emanated from behind him.

"That was a nasty stunt you pulled earlier, Jonouchi," Kaiba Seto hissed coldly down into his ear, causing him to freeze. The thin, papery feeling returned. "It's not polite to leave people standing on your door-step."

He wrenched against the arms. "It's not polite to break into someone's house, either, Kaiba," He wheezed. Kaiba snorted- he could feel the breath against his scalp- and dropped him. Jonouchi's skull smacked against the edge of the counter on the way down, and he cradled it, groaning, as his vision swam. He felt a hand on his arm, and slapped away, only to have it return and pull him to his feet. Kaiba's face swam before his eyes.

Then nothing swam before his eyes. Jonouchi Katsuya fell unconscious, a small trickle of blood sliding down his temple.

- - - - -

Jonouchi woke to warmth against the skin of his forehead, and stirred, opening his eyes blearily. For a brief moment he believed he had gone blind- then he realised he couldn't see through a damp cloth.

He reached up blindly, and pulled it off- the sight he saw next disturbed him so much that he froze for a good five seconds.

He was naked down to his boxers, and wrapped in a quilt that he knew came from his bedroom, and laid out on the sofa. Given the fact that there could only be one other person here, and it wasn't his father, his cheeks heated with a blush he knew wouldn't show against his golden-toned skin.

He found that said person sitting on the coffee table, watching him, when he sat up. His mouth went dry, and he pulled the quilt around him more securely. "H-how did you get in here?" He asked, remembering belatedly that he _had_ locked the door after his father had left.

The left corner of Kaiba's mouth twisted upwards, and he said nothing. Jonouchi tried to scoot back further on the couch, but found himself trapped between the overwhelming presence of a very displeased Kaiba Seto, and the cushiony back of the couch. He knew which he preferred.

And then, of course, that afore-mentioned Kaiba Seto, saw fit to rise and approach the couch. Jonouchi was not pleased. The millionaire straddled him, and he stiffened, unable to tear his eyes away from the boy's own dark, glittering ones. He noticed that Kaiba's pupils were dilated unusually despite the light in the room, and a passage from a book he read popped into his mind- _"When an object of peculiar attraction to an individual is viewed by that individual, the pupils may contract or dilate. This can be used to gauge your standing in a situation- hold a bargaining chip, and you hold the upper hand."_ He swallowed- it was one thing to have something shiny- it was another to _be _the bargaining chip. And knowing Kaiba's preferences, and his personality...

He shifted back, trying to ease out from under him. Kaiba's hand rested on the pillow beside his head, and he leaned over until he was mere inches from his face, making the blonde yelp. "Do you feel like telling me yet, Jonouchi?" He purred, dark eyes gleaming, one large hand peeling the quilt from out of his fingers and off. His unfortunate victim pressed back into the pillow.

"I don't even know what you want to know!" Jonouchi said wildly, pressing up against his chest in a vague attempt to rid himself of the other boy's presence.

"Really?" The brunette queried, a small smirk creeping onto his lips, one brow arched. "How unfortunate." He slid a hand down under the quilt under Jonouchi's back, and grinned as he began to curl and uncurl his nails against the boy's side.

There was one thing to be said- Jonouchi was incredibly ticklish. He squirmed, and squeaked, trying to arch away from the questing fingers, gasping and snorting hysterically. Biting his lip and jerking sideways, he sent himself and Kaiba rocketing into the coffee table, which smashed against his ribs before he and the other bounced to the floor below.

"No," he commanded the startled, winded brunette shakily, and limped to the bathroom and locked himself in, brain slightly short-circuited. He sat down on the toilet, lid and all, and buried his face in his hands. _'What've I gotten myself into? I should've just kept my mouth shut.' _He heard slow footsteps approach the door, and groaned.

"What the hell do you want from me, Kaiba?" He spat loudly, head aching, ribs aching, and temples pulsing dully. The blonde could hear a soft thump as a winded Kaiba leaned against the wood of the door.

"Answers," Came the breathy reply, and a tiny, painful groan. Jonouchi's lips pulled from his teeth in dissatisfaction.

He shot the door a purely unnecessary dirty look. "Too damn bad." With that, he slumped back against the back of the toilet and closed his eyes, feeling uncooperative.

Kaiba chuckled on the other side of the door, and the unhappy blonde could hear from his breathing that he was recovering very quickly from being winded by a large blonde puppy falling on him. "You have a choice?" He asked in a tone somewhat like cheekiness- the only problem was, Kaiba wasn't capable of 'cheeky' in Jonouchi's mind. "I can wait here for hours, Jonouchi," He said scathingly.

Jonouchi opened one eye slightly, watching the door. "So can I, Kaiba."

"Can you?"

The cold, quiet tone of the question sent a wary shiver down his spine, and both eyes came open. "Why the hell would I not be able-" the words died in his throat. "Chi-chi." Kaiba chuckle reverberated behind the door. "You wouldn't dare. Whatever you're planning, leave chi-chi out of this!"

"Then come out and answer my questions."

Jonouchi's fingers dug into his leg as he gripped it.

"Fine. But make this quick."

- - - - -


	4. Chapter 4

_Note: Wow! That was **quite** the response I got to my last chapter. Thank you, thank you all! Oh, and in response to some random reviewer whose username I am entirely too lazy to look up, yes, I am a girl. Who else but a girl could be so freakishly cruel? ;) Just kidding. Cruelty is a writer's best friend._

_Well, again, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, my dear loving fans, and all the random people who've been reading this, going, "Wow... this girl has PROBLEMS.". Thanks to you too- you're committing to my 'hits' bar! _

_Well, I know I've taken a bit longer to update- that's because I have school again, so hey, you know the story. But this story now has 1379 hits! I love you people! 333 And 15 favs, and 20 alerts! You all get a kiss on the cheek from this- as of a few days ago- faded bright pink-haired authoress. Half of it looks kinda whitish-pink now... _

_Love you guys- you're real honeys._

_And 'Nani?' mean 'What?'. :3 And 'Gaydar' was invented by someone else, but is in common use with my friends and I._

_**A Different Kind Of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter Four**_

Jonouchi opened the door slowly, left arm tensed and at the ready, when he peered out, even someone as short-sighted as he couldn't miss the bright blue eyes three inches from his face. He yelled and slammed the door shut again. Kaiba swore, muffled, behind the door- the blonde knew why; he had felt the wood vibrate as it smashed against the other boy's nose. "Next time," He said, voice shrill with startlement, "_MOVE THE HELL AWAY FROM THE DOOR!_"

He felt, more than he heard, Kaiba's muffled laughter. "All right," The millionaire said, his voice receding as he said it. "I'm away." Jonouchi felt a pang of suspicion- surely a man of Seto Kaiba's temperament would've exploded with anger at this insolence from a rival? Let alone him, a _'lowly commoner'_? He thought vaguely. A slightly sick feeling began to stir in his gut as his brain ran into overdrive. _'Am I missing something here? He should be trying to strangle me... right?'_

'_No... you've got to accept it, Jonouchi,'_ He said back to himself. _'He's attracted to you, and you know it. You've seen the way he looks at you. Fuck it, you've seen him eyeing up your ass in the school changerooms in gym!' _He shivered, hand still on the doorknob, eyes fixed on the distorted gold reflection peeking through his fingers. He slowly turned it again, shaken by the now-unearthed revelations of his unconscious mind. Arms stiff by his side, he walked out, eyes locked on Kaiba, walked with his back to the wall until he so far away in the room that the boy dissolved to a brown and gold blob, and stood there stoically. He saw movement and knew Kaiba was raising an eyebrow- it was what he did.

The blob grew as Kaiba walked towards him. He stood perfectly still, biceps tensed and sore with it, and fists clenched, eying the blob warily and getting a headache for it. The facial features firmed as he stopped about six feet from him, arms crossed, and, as he had expected, eyebrow raised. He squinted at him slightly- he was still slightly out of focus. Both of Kaiba's eyebrows shot upwards.

"You need glasses," the brunette said bluntly. Jonouchi felt heat wash up his face, and jerked slightly, forcing himself to widen his eyes, despite the growing headache it was giving him.

"I don't!' He sputtered, searching for a reasonable excuse. Kaiba snorted as each one came out sounding worse than the last, and with quick, fluid movements, was in his face like a blue-eyed cobra within moments.

He grinned toothily. "Can you see me now?" He asked, as the blonde yelped and fell backwards, smacking his already throbbing head against the wall. He scrambled to get up, but found himself hoisted to his feet by Kaiba's large, pale hands scooping him under the arms. He squirmed, and jerked his arms free, almost falling down again.

The glare Jonouchi shot his classmate was likely to be one of _the_ most dangerous he had ever shot. "I _can_ get up myself, you know," He snapped. "I might be short-sighted, but I'm not stupid or lame." He stuck his tongue out childishly and tried to manoeuver around Kaiba. The brunette watched him as he climbed over the couch to get around him, snorted, and walked over to the door and leaned on it. Jonouchi's face fell.

'_I should've known he'd be too bright to think I was heading to the kitchen,'_ he scolded himself. _'Dammit.'_ He reluctantly sat down on the couch, glaring at the blurry shape at the door. "What do you want?" He asked rudely. Kaiba chuckled and approached him once more. He sat on the couch beside him, clearly in-focus again.

"How?"

The blonde blinked, thrown off. "Nani?"

Kaiba rolled his eyes impatiently. "How did you know I am homosexual?" Jonouchi's mouth formed a plush pale 'o'.

"Well," He started nervously, edging away. "You... eh... a lot of things..." Finally, he gave up. "Gaydar," He said simply. Kaiba's eyebrow rose. _Gaydar?_ It said. "Gaydar," Jonouchi repeated.

Kaiba's eyebrows climbed nearly to his hairline. "Gaydar," He repeated disbelievingly. Jonouchi nodded. "Explain," he said, almost accusingly.

The blonde sighed, and ran his hand through his hair. "First off, I have to mention I'm bisexual," he began, dropping the hand from his hair and gesturing non-offensively with it.

"I know," Kaiba said dryly, eyebrow dropping slightly.

Jonouchi pounced on that. "That's exactly it- how did you know?" He asked pointedly. Kaiba shrugged one shoulder noncommitally.

"I just did."

Jonouchi nodded. "That's gaydar," he explained. "You just instinctively know who is, and who isn't."

Kaiba's eyebrows receding back to their natural position, which was high enough already. "Ah... so instinctual identification," he said coolly, crossing his arms. Jonouchi shrugged, with a _How should I know?_ expression on his face.

"I don't know the words for these things," he told the millionaire, feeling self-conscious under the scrutinizing blue gaze as Kaiba's eyebrows threatened to disappear upwards once more. "I just... know them. From what people do... say... how they say it. Empathy," he finished, shrugging sheepishly. "You understood what you've got. ...Well, sorta."

The brunette leaned back on the couch, staring out into the kitchen across from the tiny livingroom. Jonouchi noticed that when he thought, he bit his lower lip with his two-front teeth and chewed it lightly, and his eyes became slightly unfocused themselves. The two last fingers on his left hand drummed lightly against the couch in a 'one-two-one-two' pattern. Leaning over slightly, he saw that the outsides of Kaiba's eyes were a dark cobalt, but the colour faded inwards to a pale, crystalline blue with flakes of silvery grey. He rubbed one of his own eyes, conscious of their own uneven muddy tone.

"How long?" Kaiba asked softly, turned those eyes on him, the pupils shrunken from a thin beam of light cast through the blinds on the south wall- the only view through there, he knew, was the bleached reddish brick of the next apartment building, and the black beaten metal of the small overhangs... when he was young, he had seen a man jump from one of those. He curbed his thoughts from the incident, and then, with a start, realized Kaiba had said something.

"Huh? Oh! Um... four months. I wasn't sure before." Kaiba nodded at his answer silently, and went back to staring silently, and thinking. Jonouchi studied his expression, so carefully blank yet so full of turmoil. For a moment, he felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy.

"Come on," he said, standing up suddenly. "Let's walk- if you need to say something, you can say it in open air."

Kaiba snorted.

"Whatever."

- - - - -


	5. Chapter 5

_Note: Whoo-hoo, chapter five! It's amazing I made it this far in this short a time, really._

_To clear up the confusion of the beautiful and lovely YugiMoto2 (Whom I have never met but seems notoriously cool), 'I' is put in capitals because it's considered to be like a name- like how you would always put 'Katherine' or 'Yuki' with a capital at the front, aye? Now, 'we', 'they', or other pronouns (things referring to people instead of their name) aren't started with a capital. Why?_

_Because English is stupid and confusing. And its root languages are all crazy and different. That help any:3 Oh, and yes, this is Shonen-ai. :p Hehe! But nothing hardcore, methinks. And I'm being evil this chapter, muaha!_

_Something very sad and terrible has occurred in the area surrounding where I live- a few weeks back, a young woman of eighteen years of age was snatched from a suburban area walking down the street back from work._

_Police authorities found and identified her corpse in a ditch of an adjacent sideroad yesterday. Please, whatever religion you may be, hold a thought of her and her family in your heart. Eighteen is entirely too young to die._

_I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh:3 I've said before, I say it again. And now, on to more Kaijou action. (Kaijou? Funny word... heh... kaijou...)_

_1969 hits! 19 favs, and 21 alerts- boo-yeah!_

_**A Different Kind Of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter Five**_

"...I see." Jonouchi said, slightly taken aback. Kaiba walked stoicly, hands tucked in his pockets, the long pace of the tall outmatching his by far, and forcing him to quicken his pace every-so-often to keep up. "Gozuburo Kaiba... what happened to him after all this, anyway?"

Kaiba was silent for a moment, and cast him a small, almost black-blue glance out of the corner of his eye. "...He jumped out the top window of the Kaiba Corporation building," he said quietly, and his eyes shifted back forward. Jonouchi felt a small quiver trickle down his spine on spider's feet- something told him, quietly, innately, that there was more to this than a simple suicide. There was something Kaiba wasn't saying.

"The one here?" He asked, feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of the great bulk of the sly old Kaiba splattering on the pavement of the Kaiba Corp. parking lot. His insides churned with his active imagination. However, Kaiba shook his head briskly. "Then where?"

"That is classified information, Jonouchi."

Jonouchi turned sharply to stare at him, startled by his harsh tone, and found two long, brown-lashed eyes staring at him. He stepped back a little, and then quickened his pace, manoeuvring around an old, rather plump woman in a bright orange jogging suit. He looked ahead again, staring at the pavement, slightly disturbed.

In the back of his mind, a small voice came to light on his consciousness.

'_You pushed him?'_

- - - - -

They had been walking in silence, Kaiba's elbow occasionally brushing the blonde's forearm as they walked, when the tall millionaire, grasped afore-mention forearm and steered a protesting Jonouchi into a shop.

"Nani?" He exclaimed, startled. "What are you doing? Yamero!" It was when he stopped looking at the tall boy and looked at the shop that his eyes widened. "Ie! Kaiba, IE!" he said, jerking. Kaiba's only response to this was to physically lift him off his feet, by means of wrapping one arm around his waist, and deposit him in a chair.

The optometrist's was a wide room, filled to the brimming with rack upon rack of glasses and glasses frames. "I'm fine!" Jonouchi protested, trying to rise and being pushed firmly down again. "I told you, I don't need glasses!" His voice dropped considerably as the desk clerks looked at him curiously. "I can't afford them..." he mumbled angrily. Kaiba heard him quite clearly, he knew, despite his dismissive attitude.

"I can," he said, simply, looking down at him.

Jonouchi almost growled, scooting away from the brunette's restraining hand. "I won't be your charity case!" Kaiba sent him a cold, calculative look that he interpreted with the greatest of ease.

_You have a choice?_

At that moment, the damnably perfect moment, the optometrist walked out of her office. She was a sleekly beautiful woman of Latino descent, with a shiny black ponytail, dark eyes and tall, lean build. She looked over Kaiba with interest, as he positively reeked of money, standing erect in the office in his expensively tailored clothes at close to midnight. Then her eyes lighted on Jonouchi, and lit with a light he knew was reserved to one group of people.

Yaoi fangirls. He shivered, and scooted further away from Kaiba.

"Kaiba-sama, ne?" She asked in her lightly accented Japanese, smiling and bowing to him. He nodded aloofly. "Your... 'tomogachi' requires an eye exam?" She asked, tongue curling on the Japanese word for friend. He nodded again, briskly, and pulled Jonouchi to his feet and steered him after the woman. The blonde glared helplessly at him as he pushed him through a door and shut it after him.

It was obvious there was no use making a break for it, either- Kaiba could cross the room in half the paces he could and would have him in a headlock before he could say 'Sayonara'. But if he got the glasses, obviously Kaiba would expect him to wear them. He cursed under his breath.

"Take a seat, onegai?" The nameless optometrist said to him, and he sat down in the long-backed, black leather chair reluctantly. She moved a piece of heavy equipment suspended from the ceiling in front of his face, and positioned it so one eye was looking through. One the wall he could see through his left eye, he saw a blurry patch of yellow, and within it, a large burry kanji, and then lines beneath that.

"Tell me," She said. "What does the line read as?" She pointed to a tiny, blurry black line above a thin, barely visibly red line.

"That's writing?" He asked, bewildered.

Judging by the expression on her face, he guessed that wasn't the correct answer.

- - - - -

Kaiba snorted as he read Jonouchi's results, oblivious or simply uncaring of and to the furiously glaring blonde standing with his elbow trapped in one of the brunette's large paws.

"Let me get this straight..." he said to the optometrist incredulously. "Not only is he on the verge of being legally blind in the left eye, somewhat impaired in the right, and suffering from a lack of depth perception, he's _also_ got a partial blue-green colour-blindness issue?"

"I am not!" Jonouchi piped up, but Kaiba ignored him, and, also ignoring the optometrist, towed him over to the glasses, rack, flitted for a moment, and then snatched up a pair of thin metal-rimmed oval glasses and placed them on his nose. Jonouchi glowered at him and they slipped down the slender bridge. Kaiba snorted uncontrollably, and took them off and put them back.

"Don't I have any say in this?" He asked, when Kaiba nixed yet another pair of glasses. Kaiba gave him a bland look.

"Are you buying them?" He asked dryly.

Jonouchi glowered. "Did I ever say I wanted them?" He shot back. The corner of Kaiba's mouth quirked up.

"Do you have a choice?" He asked, without even looking at the blonde. "Now shut up."

Jonouchi felt his face flush with heat. "_Make _me!" He growled, crossing his arms. Kaiba looked down at him from the corner of his eye.

Before he could blink, he was pressed up against the long wall mirror, head jerked back, a lanky arm curled around his waist and the brutal force of a sexually driven kiss against his lips. In the background, he heard the delighted giggle of the optometrist and the affronted gasps of the young clerks. When it actually occurred to him what was going on, he squeaked enormously, and bit down as hard as he could.

Kaiba jerked away with a laugh, lower lip bleeding slightly. Back against the mirror, mouth opening and closing like a fish's, if Jonouchi could have made a noise at that particular moment, it would've been a particularly effeminate noise of protest in the form of a startled and furious yowl. However, he was thoroughly speechless. Kaiba picked up a pair of glasses and put them on his nose, then made an approving noise and entered an order for the perscription glasses of those frames. Throughout it all, Jonouchi stood against the wall-mirror, open-mouthed and almost totally appalled.

'Almost' being an objective term.

- - - - -


	6. Chapter 6

_Note: Yes, just to clear this up:_

_Jonouchi IS wandering around Domino in his underpants. Just to clear that up. He's kinda preoccupied and hasn't really truly realized it yet. E-heh. For those of you that must be picky and say, 'That would never happen!', you've never met my friends and I. And he's a blonde, just like me, aye? Well, I'm pinkish-ish right now, aha. And I can see myself completely forgetting and wandering around and wondering why I'm cold. _

_Oh, yeah! And the colour-blindness thing, I had a comment on that, saying that particular form wasn't real. Aha, tell that to MY eyes. :3 I used it in his character because, a) I knew it would be real, because- Ahaha!- I have it, and b) it seemed a nice little character development. :3 I would absolutely love to agree with you on the fact that it isn't real, but, unfortunately, those orange schoolbuses and teal ocean water are NOT agreeing with you. X.x It's strange because I actually recognize them as those colours but everyone tells me they're not. Ah, well._

_Oh, and Miss Glancey is actually MY English teacher, haha. And yes, she does look like that. Nice lady- but I can't say I own her. ;P_

_Thanks to my lovely reviewers, my hits count is now 3233! And 24 favs, and 25 alerts. :P_

_Still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, bleh._

_Happy Birthday, Krisy! (For a while ago... her birthday chappie.)_

_**A Different Kind Of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter Six**_

It was with great displeasure that Jonouchi allowed Kaiba to walk beside him at all, even with the small three foot distance the sidewalk allowed him, short of scraping into the walls of the buildings alongside. He fumed at Kaiba, his morals, and the damn prescription sheet in the millionaire's hand that condemned him, after two more weeks of freedom, to life behind twin panes of glass. _'Pains,'_ he thought, snidely amused. _'How fitting.'_

"Stop moping, Jonouchi," Kaiba said smugly from beside him, drifting towards him slightly for the umpteenth time. Jonouchi, for the umpteenth time again, reached out a finger and pushed him back away, grimly conscious of the fact that he was in a severe state of dishabille. As in- walking around in his boxers and a quilt. Though he was quite thoroughly used to walking around half-undressed, much to the horror of the more _'proper' _denizens of Domino, walking beside someone you know has an acute sexual interest in you whilst in the state can be slightly unnerving. And someone as observant as he couldn't help but notice the wide, dilated pupils and side-long glances.

In automatic response, he scrubbed at his bruised lips, feeling a trifle violated. Kaiba's eyes wandered down the length of his slender, uncovered neck, and Jonouchi gave him a full-on, blank stare. Kaiba stared back. The blonde gave up- some people didn't get it.

He slipped into his imagination, forcibly ignoring his odd companion.

_Jonu unsheathed his blade in a brilliant glitter of cold steel, soft hazel eyes sharpening with intent. His lithe torso rippled with exertion as he swung it out to match the downward arc of his opponent's blade, and sweat trickled down the hollow of his throat as he ground his feet in the hard-packed dirt road, trying to hold his ground against his adversary. _

_Afore-mentioned adversary was tall, thin, and cold-eyed beneath his steel, plumed helm. Mouth barely turning as he pressed Jonu back against the stone wall of the street, his body pressed hard against his, the blonde's own sword nearly biting into his throat. With one harsh twist, he found himself breathing the dust of the road, his blade torn from his grip, a large, booted foot grinding into the back of his neck. _'This isn't the way this is supposed to be...'_ He thought, panicked. _

_As the boot removed itself, he jerked up, gasping. A large hand yanked him to his knees, and he grunted in surprise, looking up in surprise. His opponent, drew off his helmet, a cascade of chestnut brown hair and a pair of glittering blue eyes emerging, pale in the center but ever-so dark around the outside. His face was long but delicately shaped, with beautifully full, long lips and ebony black eyelashes. Jonu jerked up to his feet clumsily, and stood awkwardly about a foot from the brunette, vaguely embarrassed, and unsure as to why. Realizing himself, he stepped back, but started when his ankle hit the wall behind him. _

_Suddenly, without warning, the brunette grabbed him by the top of his pants, and pulled him roughly forward, his other hand burying itself brutally in his hair as he forced his tongue between Jonu's lips. Jonu gaspe-_

Jonouchi jerked startled. "The fuck! That wasn't supposed to happen!"

Kaiba sent him an inordinately strange look, eyebrows rising into his now slightly unkempt fringe. "I won't ask," he said, snorting. "But you need clothes, so walk faster." In a disturbingly familiar motion, his hand snatched out and grabbed the quilt by his hip, pulling him forward in skips and hops. Jonouchi glared, feeling the blood rising in his cheeks and thanking all the deities he knew that he couldn't blush properly. His boxers felt strangely uncomfortable. He snatched back and strode quickly ahead. Kaiba grabbed him again, and steered him into a shop.

He glared helplessly at him.

- - - - -

Jonouchi's new school uniform felt strange, almost _too_ crisp without the familiar small holes in the knees and the stains of dirt and mud from various ventures. And, inexplicably, his eyes itched. He rubbed at them irritably.

His morning had been... eventful. Not only had he been forced into clothing that felt strangely tight and long and harsh compared to his usual worn-in, too short jeans and holey t-shirts, he had had an obsessive-compulsive teen millionaire poking around in his apartment, gleefully burning his old clothes and poking them with a fire-poker as they singed and shrivelled in the fireplace- at three in the morning, only an hour after having caused him to smash his head on the kitchen counter. He was in serious doubt of the brunette's sanity, but thankful for the thickness of his own skull. The fact that Kaiba had also dragged him into a barbershop and forced him, physically _forced_ him to get a trim, which, in his opinion, still looked too neat, despite the fact that his hair existed in a constant state of disreputability.

He sighed, slumping down in his seat. Second period- College Science. The concept of mitosis eluded him- he tried to pay attention, but he'd find himself distracted by the strange peculiarity of his sensei's face, or by the gestures of the speaker. He curled inwards slightly, gloomy. It wasn't his fault, he thought, tuning out the lecture and turning his thoughts inwards. He got so distracted... and the expression, the gestures, the mannerisms were all so interesting- like how his sensei would flick the pencil left if she was making things up, and how her entire manner reminded him of a tall, gawky bird. And how her neck was long, and almost fragile-looking, but a tony puch of fat still rested just below her delicately-boned chin. He made a small noise of impatience, and let his eyes wander the class; the same thing he did every day.

His gaze wandered over a small to the left, skimming over small Chinese girl, outwardly calm, quiet and strange, but, from what he could tell from he occasional slips of personality, bright and lively when in her comfort zone. He met Otogi's eyes as he turned farther, starting slightly at the lucid green orbs, and the bright speculation in them. He turned his head back forward quickly, feeling somehow violated. _'Why does everyone want this?'_ He whined mentally, personally chastising himself for not being modest.

Glancey-sensei's fingernails clicked down on his desk, and he looked up into her pale, blue-grey eyes. She was a Canadian, with short, streaked blonde hair and pale eyes, and skin that seemed to glow preternaturally with the pink tones of the westerners. And she was tall- tall and leggy, but slightly spindle-shanked and slender of torso. She reminded him of nothing more than a tall, pale stork, or swan, like the ones he had seen in the American commercials. Her fingernails clicked down again.

"Jonouchi-san, please pay attention... you're already falling behind." She stared at him with those odd, round eyes. "Did you get the handout?"

He looked down at his desk, at the slightly crumpled sheet of paper teetering perilously close to the edge. "Hai, sen- _Miss_ Glancey." The concept of calling someone a _Miss_ still confused him somewhat, but he dealt with it. Westerners were strange, and it seemed to make her happy.

He examined the sheet half-heartedly, leaning slightly closer to see it. _'A school play?' _His interest perked slightly. _'That actually sounds... interesting. And we can get a credit for it.' _He toyed with the idea, intrigued.

'_...I've never acted before.'_

- - - - -


	7. Chapter 7

_Note: Whee, update! Now my hair is purple. :P I was thinking about writing a wacky OC story... -schemes- _

_Heh heh heh... acting! Well, I'm very untalkative right now. O.o I wonder why? Meh! Purple eggplant hair! MRAH. The poking fun at drama kids is because I am one. XD My hair's all fadey again... :( Ah, well. The teacher IS based off someone... the drama teacher at my school. God, she's hilarious. When she's really into something, she's very... excitable. :P She's a funny lady._

_I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh._

_They reset my hits count! Buggers!_

_**A Different Kind of Genius**_

_**Kawaii Chibi Kitty Angel**_

_**Chapter Seven**_

Jonouchi slipped in the infamous drama room nervously, clutching the sheet. "O-ohayo?" Sixteen sets of eyes precisely- _'Would that make thirty-two eyes?'_ he wondered- followed him as he crossed towards the desk in quick, long strides, nervous about all these eccentric, odd looking people, focussed directly on his face. The sensei, a pretty woman with long, curly blonde hair and a beautiful white smile, looked up expectantly from the desk. "Hai?"

He fidgeted. "I- I'd like to join the program for the play."

He stepped back as an enormous smile spread across Morgan-sensei's face, the famous, heart-melting smile he had heard rumours about, and she very nearly made a noise that sounded like a squeal of delight. With a liquid motion between a stride and a bound, she was out from behind the desk and examining him from all angles, short and small and all smiles and cheerful intense optimism. He swallowed and began edging back towards the door.

"You're_ PERFECT!_" She chirped, grabbing his hands and dragging him through the crowd of teenagers towards a series of large plain wooden wardrobes. _'Craaap...' _He thought. _'What've I gotten myself into?'_

Throwing open the doors with a markedly dramatic flair, he noticed, she began to whip out clothing, press it to his chest- entire face drawn outwards with excitement, blue eyes wide and glittering- and then make a small, discontented noise, and whip it away again. He stepped back, startled and somewhat lost as to exactly _what_ to do in such proceedings. The sensei, he noticed, had an obsessive colour-coordination habit- the entire cupboard looked like a carefully formulated rainbow, and she always replaced the garment removed in the exact spot it came from, tucked quietly between other such riotous colours.

It was with a vague creeping horror that he registered the squeak of delight she emitted as she pressed along, corsetted dress against him, the most vivid green he had seen beyond the lawns of places like the Kaiba mansion, complete with a cresting series soft ivory ruffles burbling out of the deep, plush neckline, creating the false illusion of a bust. The same ivory ruffles also filled the end of the long, trailing sleeves, lighting the green like something pulled from an eighteenth century painting. A long slit ran from upper thigh level to the floor. It was beautiful, except for one fact... it was blatantly meant for a male actor, as one could see from the padding added on the bust and hips. He backed away slowly, followed by the eyes of multitudes of drama kids, all looking somewhat like the zombies from _Dawn of the Dead_. He groaned as she gave him another one of her heart-melting smiles, the dress in one hand and a frequently highlighted script in the other.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this," he said, taking the bridge of his nose between two fingers.

- - - - -

Kaiba Seto intruded on the drama room approximately two hours and a half after Jonouchi, grunting as he shoved a lingering drama student out of the way. He had things to do- people to meet. And this meeting with the drama teacher was interrupting his meticulate schedule quite badly.

However, in order to obtain the necessary spot in Tokyo University's business program- not so much for the experience as for the highly prized contacts it might win him in the prized American/European market- he, for some reason, required a some proof as to his abilities in cooperative situations. Dramatic arts with the most accessible and least demanding of the options.

He approached the woman at the desk, a woman whom he observed to demonstrating her teaching skills entirely too enthusiastically to a young woman in glasses who looked slightly exasperated. He tapped her lightly on the shoulder, and she turned, blondes curls bouncing. "Morgan-sensei?" He asked, voice little more than a carefully controlled growl.

"Hai? Oh!" She smiled winningly up at him. "You must be the new student who signed up this morning, ne? Kaiba-san, is it?" She scrutinized him with a large blue eye. "How would you feel about an antagonistic part, Kaiba-san?" She queried.

His mouth curled up at the side, and his eyebrows rose. A spark of interest fell and grew in the pit of his stomach, lighting aflame his curiousity.

"I think I'd enjoy that, Morgan-san."

She smiled. "Of course, the auditions are required..." she said, tilting her head forward. "But I know a born actor when I see one... both you and the other boy are." Suddenly, before he even had the chance to inquire, she burst into a grin. "So let's see how you do, Kaiba-san!"

She ushered him onto the stage before he could even utter a sound.

- - - - -

"You're a _girl?_"

Honda Hiroto sprayed laughter at the blonde across the table, whose nose was going a nearly unnoticeable shade of pink at the tip from embarrassment. "Come on, Honda!" He whispered fiercely. "Shut up! This is _not _funny... we're not even performing a pre-written, famous play- we're performing something one of the **students** wrote!" He groaned and rubbed his scalp with the tips of his fingers. Honda continued to laugh. Disgruntled, Jonouchi turned to Motou Yugi, best friend and confidante. Yugi smiled at him sweetly, his hair an array of tri-coloured spikes above him that was strikingly threatening looking in contrast to his gentle round face. "Yugi-chan, you don't think it's that bad, do you?" He asked sullenly.

Yugi smiled. "Ie, of course not." He laughed, his face working into the network of friendly creases, around the eyes and mouth, that Jonouchi knew it would take to at the age of forty or fifty. "There's nothing wrong with experiencing challenging roles- they help define a person." He grinned a little wider, tilting his head to the side. "Besides, maybe the girls will treat you nicer if they feel like you understand them." The short tenth grader winked, and Jonouchi couldn't help but laugh.

"Arigato, Yugi-chan," He laughed, then sighed, and gathered up his lunch and his bag. "But I have to go... there's a lunch rehearsal today- we're rehearsing the first scene." Yugi slumped a little, but nodded.

"See you, Jonouchi-chan." He waved a little as Jonouchi began the long trudge down to the drama wing.

"Someone remind me why I'm doing this?"

- - - - -

Kaiba Seto snorted, looking in the mirror at his reflection. The full-faced black silk mask he had across his face, a long oval with slits for eyes and vague bumps to accommodate facial features, gave the cold illusion of facelessness, even with strands of his gleaming chestnut hair playing across it. It made his eyes look all the bluer, he thought, and snorted. The rest of his costume was an extravagantly tailored cape, long and full-bodied and billowing, and covering him throat to the floor. _'I look like something from Phantom of the Opera,' _he thought, not entirely unamused. He ran a gloved hand through his hair, smirking behind the mask.

There is a very distinct sound to one who has never walked in high-heels before- it almost sounds like the clip-clopping of a horse. And there was never a more obvious novice to these menaces of womenkind then the young woman who walked up the short flight of stairs onto the stage that moment.

She was fascinating looking, with long, gleaming auburn curls, as deeply toned as the dark curtains around them. He could see from here the thin line of the wig, but it only intrigued him further. Her eyes looked yellow in light of the tawny gold tones they had used to light her face, and a curler and mascara had made her eyelashes so long they nearly reached her high, thin eyebrows. Her cheekbones, not particularly pronounced naturally, were highlighted with a light, glistening bronzer, and below them, a dark mahogany tone. But what startled him was her lips.

Full, and dark as plums; a dark line of pencil was drawn beneath the lower lip, undoubtably to make it seem fuller. The colour on the lips, wide and full themselves, was an extremely reflective deep red that matched her hair almost to a tee. She looked strangely feral, in her long, green Victorian dress and long auburn wig, with those beautiful, haunted gold eyes. He eyed her appreciatively. _'If I went for girls, I'd certainly go for her,'_ he thought, amused.

He bowed to her, and she stepped back, but did not blush. He smiled beneath his mask. There was a strangely comforting anonymity about the mask. It let him relax.

Jonouchi groaned. _'Five minutes as a girl and already guys are hitting on me!' _he thought despairingly, glancing over at the tall, masked figure lurking in the corner. _'Damn, if you're going to come on to me, make sure I'm _me _first!' _He sulked over to the edge of the stage, sitting down on a large block painted as a di, and pulled the slit of the dress closed dourly, not wanting to witness the waxed monstrosities of his legs.

He was slightly perturbed by what he had read so far in the first act; as far as he could tell, he was in the leading role, which made him nervous; He also had to submit to being touched rather a lot by the males of the show... which, while he didn't mind so much, the prospect of people actually thinking he was a girl didn't enthuse him much.

What was worse? The play was a musical.

It was about a singer, not fantastically pretty, or entirely too talented at academia, kept neatly fed and tidied in the houses of the rich, who was bought out from her position in middling nobility into the home of a mysterious man who was reputed to deal in... unnatural practices. Witchcraft, persay. Occultism. Satanic rituals and all that. But she took the job, quite gladly- _'Little gold-digger,' _Jonouchi thought uncharitably- on the idea of perhaps wooing the man, whom she had heard, from several, ah, 'reliable sources' was either old, sick, or crippled. Any of the three and she believed she would be able to dispose of him neatly, and retire into a good deal of money. For she was very clever, and very ruthless.

However, on arrival at the house, there was a certain... _misunderstanding _as she encountered the master of the house. And it became more about escape than seduction; at least from her side. Jonouchi shivered. _'He's going to be touching me constantly!' _He thought, slightly panicked. _'In the first half of the first act alone, he's already brushing my elbow with his fingertips, resting his hands on my hips and sneaking up on me... fuck, I have a feeling I'm going to have a couple moments where my pretty tenor... correction, '_alto_'... scream is going to be very in character. God, that guy is creepy.' _

Jonouchi sighed, and scrubbed his palms- _'Manicured nails and all,'_ he thought disgustedly- along his dress, looking through the corner of his eye at the tall, dark-haired boy lurking around the teacher, seemingly very intent on what she was saying- he assumed he was intent, unable to see past the mask... or past his nose. He sighed once more, the stays of his corset creaking. The teacher turned and smiled brilliantly at him. A chill ran down his spine- he had learned quite quickly that a smile of that magnitude of sweetness contained something evil. _'Like a female role,'_ he sulked sourly.

"On the set in five, four..."

Jonouchi groaned.

- - - - -


End file.
